Is Obama Progressive?

I’ve already described Obama as a “sane conservative” – he is running policies that would have been mainstream right-wing 30 years ago, and which would be mainstream rightwing in most of Europe, he’s restoring competence in government (something I consider a major thing in itself, even if it makes few headlines) and he’s mostly governing on the line he promised. It’s welcome progress from recent years, and it beats the available alternatives on offer at the voting booth. He’s doing the best with the system he inherited. But is he a progressive? In my view, not really. I’m of the opinion that the current system is hopelessly flawed and cannot continue as it is in the long term. And I’m not happy that Obama’s policies have been to basically patch the system as it is, and push any resolution of its current contradictions further down the road. There will be a real crisis (a much bigger one than last year’s) at some point in the future, but it’s hard to tell if it’s going to be next year or in a decade. Many people think authorities did a good job in avoiding the worst following last year’s financial collapse, and that we’re now back on the right track; if you’re one of them, then the criticism of Obama as a hostage (or, if you’re less kind, ally) to the banking lobby makes little sense and I fully appreciate that. [emphasis added]

2 thoughts on “Is Obama Progressive?”

Seriously, why do folks persist in even debating this point? We are getting, on policy, exactly what we were promised. Obama is a center-right Democrat. The Democratic Party is a centrist party, with a center-right component that is a reflection of the Republican Party’s total abandonment of moderation in any form, and that is super-empowered by the narrow balance of power in the U.S. Senate (and pretty much nothing else) and thus is pulling their party even further to the right. Why do people persist in the delusion that the Democratic Party is ever going to embrace progressive policy and ideals in an uncompromised fashion?!? Twenty years of DLC, New Dem rule hasn’t taught folks anything?!?

You’re right, the Dems will never be the Progressive party that a lot of us hope for. You just have to vote for the lesser of two evils I guess. I’d vote for a 3rd party but the Ralph Nader incident reminded me how important it is to keep dangerous Republicans like Bush out of office.